Author: Kapil Bulsara

The Car-free Life

A little over 6 months ago I was forced to let go of my car because I was involved in an accident and the car was a write off. Instead of getting a new car, I decided that I would not get a new car until I was certain I actually needed one. The car free life might not work for everyone, but it does work for a surprising number of people if they are willing to make some adjustments in their life.

In my case, it was a very easy decision to make and one that I do not regret at all. In fact my life probably has gotten better because of not having a car. But that can also be because my life is as such. I have deliberately designed my life in such a way that I do not have to commute to work, I choose my work hours, I choose whom to work with, what to work on and how much to work on it. Of course all that freedom can be the ultimate boon, but if not handled with care, it can also be a curse. After all with great power comes great responsibility, and in this case the power is total freedom. But what does all that have to do with living a car-free life?

Not having a car meant there were some constraints in my life. I could not travel when I wanted to, I could not be spontaneous with my travel plans, even grabbing a cup of coffee or breakfast became something that needed some planning. Of course there is also the status symbol to battle with, but thankfully I was not victimized by my mind in this respect because I almost always live by the saying

Those who matter don’t mind and those who mind don’t matter.

Challenging The Status Symbol

If nothing at all, it has been a great social experiment. For example, I was with a group of friends when the topic of cars came up and a particular car brand was mentioned(I can’t remember which car it was) but I casually said, “Nah, I don’t like that car”, to which my friend mockingly replied,

“That’s coz you can’t afford one” letting out a laugh and an insulting look on his face before realizing that his remarks may have come off as being insensitive, yet not enough to warrant a genuine apology. As I write this, I wonder how they would react if I drove my new Tesla S to their driveway. If there is any car that I actually want to own in the near future despite of my car free philosophy that I’m experimenting with, it as to be the Tesla S – you know because it’s an electric car and it’s good for the environment and all. ;-).

There are numerous other situations like these that tested my commitment to go car free for as long as I could. It has been 6 months now and things just keep getting better.

Increased Savings

Not owning a car saves quite a bit of money and yes you might know this logically or mathematically but when you actually see how much you’re saving, it may just surprise you a little bit. You don’t have to pay for auto insurance and if you live in my city, you know that that can be a big deal! Cost of fuel and maintenance is another thing that is out of the list of bills. There will of course be times when you do need a car because public transportation might not cut it. In those situations you can take a taxi or rent a car, and even then, at least for me the savings are very visible. For that to work, I had to develop another skill.

More Organized, Better Time Management

You cannot keep hiring a taxi or renting a car every time you need to go somewhere. I scheduled my meetings in such a way that I could get away with renting one car for the day and getting all my work done on the same day. Out of necessity I had to get efficient at my work and get better at scheduling meetings. I was always accustomed to steering clients towards having phone or Skype meetings when possible, but with the added constraint of not owning a car, I became better at managing my time. Scheduling back to back meetings means you have to learn to squeeze your preparation time and doing it enough number of times means you can get very good at it.

Health Benefits

When I owned a car, I would sometimes drive in the middle of the night around 3AM to Denny’s or McDonalds to have a big meal while working on some project. Things like these of course causes your health to deteriorate slowly over time if you do it frequently. But if you remove the flexibility of having a car, the temptation of driving to a fast food place is removed(at least partially).

I started walking as part of my exercise routine, I then increased my frequency of walking and the distance I travelled every time I went out of a walk. I can now confidently walk for an hour and I use walking to get things done. Things like going to the bank, getting stationary or getting groceries are now tasks that I feel are quite easy even without a car. Not only am I staying active, I’m also noticing a lot more of my surroundings than I would if I were to travel the same route by car. It’s an amazing experience every time.

Recently I took out my old bicycle from my garage. It had collected some dust and rust because of all the neglect of so many years. I cleaned it and applied some needed fixes and started cycling. Now sometimes instead of walking to my destination I cycle to it and it takes me half the time. Not only is cycling healthy, it is also a lot of fun. I was an avid cyclist when I was in high school but as time went by, I went from an avid cyclist to the guy who says “I had a bicycle once”. Cycling has brought back so much joy and fun that I had all forgotten about.

I also bought a Misfit Flash fitness tracker so that I can hit my daily activity goals. Please be sure to check out my thought on the Misfit Flash.

All these are benefits to me, but living a car free life is not all a selfish act. I am helping the environment by doing my part in reducing greenhouse gas emission. Living a car-free life also means you’re doing your part in easing traffic congestion.

As you can see living a car free life is a win-win for all. This is my take on living a car free life.

If you liked this article and want to read more like these in the future, please leave a comment below and please share!

Tags cars, cycling, environment, health, money, savings, Self Development, Self Improvement, status symbol, time management

Technology

Wireless Charging Wizardry

Post author By Kapil Bulsara
Post date May 6, 2015
No Comments on Wireless Charging Wizardry

Every single day I come across new technology that amazes me. Some seem futuristic or even alien-like. Even common technology that we have today, that we so often fail to appreciate amazes me. Smart phones and tablets and laptops and cloud storage, biometric security scanners, search algorithms that give you exactly what you want, cameras, electric cars, planes, heart rate monitors, MRIS and just a whole lot more. What we enjoy today and even take for granted are things that even Kings of olden days could neither afford nor imagine.

Nowadays everyone has a smartphone or some kind of phone, a laptop and probably a tablet and possibly a fitness tracker or a smart watch. They all have batteries that need to be charged with wires that need to be plugged into the device and into the electric outlet on a wall. These cords are annoying, get tangled easily and some eventually get damaged and become unusable. One technology that will save us from this annoyance is wireless charging or inductive charging, which uses an electromagnetic field to transfer energy from one object to another.

android_logs Currently the fastest area of growth of wireless charging is in the mobile phones industry. Phones like the Nokia Lumia 920, Nokia Lumia 820 launched in 2012, the Nexus 4 and Nexus 5, Droid 3 and Droid 4, the Apple Watch, Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6edge all have builtin wireless charging.

WirelessCharging_table This is just the beginning. Growth in this area of technology is not only rapid, but is also a necessity . Almost everyone has a touchscreen smart phone and they consume a lot of energy. Most phones do not have removable batteries( and now not even Samsung’s flagship phones). It is not practical to be carrying around a charger with you in fear of having your phone battery die on you.

Some coffee shops and restaurants have already started to offer wireless charing. Customers can simple place their phones on the table and start charing their phones. Soon furniture makers will have built-in wireless chargers. Ikea has already started this.

Phones are not the only devices that will have wireless charing. Laptops and tables are the obvious devices to follow suit. Dining tables, coffee tables, arm chairs, bed frames with small shelfs on either sides are also good candidates for builtin wireless chargers. Kitchen counters will also have wireless charging as phones will not be the only devices that will need charging.

Places where wireless charging could become common are of course airports so passengers can charge their devices while having a quick bites before hopping onto their flight, gym lockers where customers can simple place their phones in their lockers, jump in the shower, freshen up and come back to a charged device. One of the places where I am most excited to get a wireless charger is my car. Cars will surely start to get wireless chargers buitin. It gets frustrating when you are driving, the music is playing from your phone and suddenly the battery dies and to make matters worse you realize you did not bring your charger with you. Wireless charging will solve this problem.

As for the devices that will have wireless charging, the list will be too long for this article. All mobile devices will have wireless charging – phones, laptops and tablets. Game controllers, watches, electric shavers, and small kitchen appliances are some of the electronic devices that will have wireless charging.

What I am most excited about is cars equipped with wireless charging. Let’s face it: in the very near future almost all cars will be electric. When you come home from work and park your car in the garage, special panels under the body of your car and the floor of your garage will make wirelessly charging your car a reality.

I have had my first experience of wireless charing with the new bold Samsung Galaxy S6 edge. It’s like seeing magic happen.

This is my take on the future of wireless charging – what’s yours? Please leave a comment below, like and share this post if you like what you see here.

Tags future, Technology, wireless charging

Business Mobile Technology

The Stylus is Making a Comeback

Post author By Kapil Bulsara
Post date May 5, 2015
No Comments on The Stylus is Making a Comeback

‘If you see a stylus, they BLEW it’

-Steve Jobs

If anyone had asked me a week ago, “When was the last time you wrote something with your hand?”, it would have taken me a long time to think of a time when I was actually writing with my hands. I recently got into handwriting for a few minutes a day and I also started sketching designs on my whiteboard which I had not used in many years instead of doing it directly in Photoshop. I have heard many times that the act of writing something with your hand connects different portions of your brain and in doing so you retain more information and are more likely to follow through on what you write about.

However, now I am beginning to fall in love with handwriting again. So much that I am actually contemplating on cancelling my order for the Galaxy S6 and getting myself a Note 4.

As you may already know the Note 4 uses a stylus with many interesting and productivity boosting features. You can easily write a note with S memo. You can do cool things like smart select to select text freely with the Stylus. Write on a screenshot or existing picture and do some doodling. A stylus mostly is thinner and more precise than your fingers and that gives finer control over what kind of strokes are applied to the image or document that you are working on. It acts as a cursor on the screen so you can do things more accurately. Taking out the S pen from its docked state fire up the Air Command to allow you to quickly start doing some work with your pen.

Microsoft Surface, the tablet/laptop hybrid also uses a stylus.

The Surface Stylus takes things up a notch with the ways in which you can use it. You can click the top button to open OneNote. Double-click to capture a screenshot. The right click button acts like the right-click button on a mouse. Click it once in apps like OneNote to open a menu, to choose pen color, thickness, and other options. Microsoft on Friday confirmed it bought the stylus and display interface technology for the Surface Pro 3 from the company that made it. This signifies a big win for the stylus.

Other tablets that use a stylus are the Lenovo ThinkPad 10, Asus VivoTab Note 8, Toshiba Encore 2 Write, Dell Venue 11 Pro 7000, Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1, Samsung Galaxy Note 12.2, HP Slate 7 Extreme.

Not only that, it is rumoured that Apple’s new iPad will also use a stylus. Steve Jobs was strongly against the use of a stylus and even said

“if you see a stylus they blew it.”

“Who wants a stylus? You have to get ’em, put ’em away, you lose ’em. Yuch! Nobody wants a stylus. So let’s not use a stylus.” – Jobs said while introducing the iPhone

“God gave us 10 styluses. Let’s not invent another” Jobs said about the stylus, according to Walter Isaacson’s biography.

So if the rumours of the iPad getting a stylus is true, it is definitely a big deal! The stylus is really making a come back!

Tags Apple, desktop, Galaxy Note, ipad, laptop, microsoft, Samsung, stylus, tablet, windows

Philosophy Psychology Technology

5 Ways You Can Capture Moments In Your Life

Post author By Kapil Bulsara
Post date May 4, 2015
No Comments on 5 Ways You Can Capture Moments In Your Life

Have you ever felt that your life is moving too fast? Or perhaps you are at the other side of the spectrum where you feel that life is moving too slow. Have you had those moments in life that you wish to remember over and over again? Are there moments in life that you could have forgotten, but you didn’t because there was a picture that captured that moment, or perhaps you wrote something on a piece of paper, kept a receipt or a souvenir that takes you back in time to experience some memorable part of that your life.

We live in a world of Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Pinterest, Instagram, Four Squares and much more that allows us to share every moment and every aspect of your lives, not to mention Twitter’s new app called Periscope which allows you to live-streaming video directly from your phone.

But I’m not going to be talking about sharing your moments. I want to give you some tools to help your record moments in life, you may of course chose to share them.

Phone Camera

Virtually every phone has a camera. Some of them take pictures better than some DSLR of yesteryears. You have your phone with you at all times so if something happens that you would want to remember just take your phone out and take a snap or take a video. We’re in such a photo snapping epidemic that Samsung has put a quick launch feature in their latest smart phone the Galaxy S6 – All you need to do is double press the home button and bam!

I know I really shouldn’t even be talking about all this since it is such a basic way of life now. But remember you don’t need record moments only for the purpose of sharing. When you start recording videos and photos to capture moments in life for yourself you will start to deviate from fluff and random acts of “importance” to moments that mean something to you, and sometimes only to you.

Action Camera

The action camera market has seen an astonishing boom mainly thanks to the GoPro brand. These camera’s(GoPro, Sony’s Action Cam and others) are small, light weight, most of them are waterproof and with a wide angle lens. You can mount these cameras on your chest, on your bike, hand, car, your head and the possibilities are endless. You might be thinking that this is just another camera. How is this different phone a phone camera? Phone cameras are mostly classed as point and shoot cameras where as action cameras are mostly POV(point of view cameras).

Evernote

Evernote is a tool designed for note taking and archiving. A “note” can be a piece of formatted text, full webpage or webpage excerpt, photograph, voice memo, or a handwritten “ink” note. You can organize those notes into sets of notes called notebooks and organize them in different categories called tags. Once a note is saved, it is synced to the Evernote cloud and from there it is synced to all other devices that have Evernote installed. There are other tools out there that let you record notes the way Evernote does, however Evernote’s ease of use and search functionality is something that is yet to be beaten.

Voice Recorder

If you are one of those types that retain memory better with audio instead of visually or kinaesthetically then you can carry with you a voice recorder. I know that some of you may be wondering: “…but does my phone not have a voice recorder?” . Yes phones do have voice recorder apps, but none of them so far are as good as an actual portable voice recorder machines. Dedicated voice recorders are faster with better quality and you can easily play back your recorder voice.

Old School Notebook

Sometimes all the high tech gizmos just does not quite cut it. Some may feel that all these gadgets lack the feeling of authenticity. If you are one of those, you can carry a small notebook and pen with you. The feeling of hand written notes sometimes says more than a picture which is believed to speak a 1000 words, especially now that hand written notes are simply considered archaic by most.

If you are someone who cannot or don’t want to keep a physical notebook and want to avoid the use of paper, not to mention the finite number of pages a notebook has to offer, but at the same time want the joy of keeping hand written notes, then the Samsung Galaxy Note is for you. Note 4 is by far the bsst phone with a stylus. In fact as far as gadgets go the Galaxy Note is the best single device you will need to record almost every moment of your life. It has a camera, Evernote and a pen that is surprisingly accurate(on the Note 4 at the time of this writing) to jot down notes.

In spite of what I have said in this article, I leave you with something that left me in awe when I first heard it. There is a scene where Sean O-Connell who has been waiting patiently to capture a photograph of the illusive “ghost cat”, the snow leopard has a conversation with Walter MItty in a scene from the movie The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Walter Mitty: When are you going to take it?
Sean O’Connell: Sometimes I don’t. If I like a moment, for me, personally, I don’t like to have the distraction of the camera. I just want to stay in it.
Walter Mitty: Stay in it?
Sean O’Connell: Yeah. Right there. Right here.

— The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Tags camera, Galaxy Note, Galaxy S6, GoPro, phone, Samsung, social science

Uncategorized

Follow Your Bliss

Every time I drive on Rutherford Road in Vaughan I pass a small parking lot made of gravel and I see a narrow and steep gravel road that leads upwards and then at one point just disappears into the hill behind, and every time I pass that spot I wonder what it is, and every time I tell myself that I will check it out the next time I am there.

A week ago on Sunday, I woke up in the morning and decided that I will go to this place and reveal to my senses the mystery behind the hill. I was almost certain that it was a trail – there was no other explanation, but I needed to see for myself and this was the day. It is about a 10 to 15 minute drive from where I live to this spot. When I reached there, the small parking lot was filled up so I made a turn and decided to return home and come back some other time, but as I was existing the parking lot I told myself

“NO, not anymore, this happens today. I must find a way.”

As soon as I asked myself that question, I remembered that there is a public library nearby so I drove to the library, parked my car and then walked to this mystery spot. That in itself was quite a hike. Feeling positive and happy with my choice to finally do this, I marched forward climbing up the steep hill. Before I could reach the top, I started to doubt whether this was really going to be something worth doing, but I marched on forward. I had finally decided that I was going to commit to myself to walking 10,000 steps a day and I was determined and excited to find out what this trail had to offer.

I was pleasantly surprised as I strolled up and down mini peaks and valleys on the windy pathway meeting people who greeted me with delightful smiles and “Good Mornings”.

I stopped on my way and took some pictures:

I thought to myself that this is such a great way to start my morning and asked myself how it is that I was missing out on this for the past 5 years. There were a couple of times when I thought, “okay let me turn back and go back home now, but I kept walking determined to see where the trail ends.

The best was definitely saved for the last. In the final stretch there was a bridge which I had to cross from under it and there on one side of the wall was this:

Follow your bliss and the Universe will open doors for you where there were only walls.

What a treat this was – desert for the soul after a hearty breakfast for the senses.

They say no good thing comes easy, but in life it is hard to get what is desired for those who are not following their bliss. When you follow your bliss, not what your mind wants, not what your parents, your spouse, your friends want, not your bank account, but your bliss that there is something magical that happens that is hard to describe in words.

Aren’t all things of true beauty hard to describe? Some things can only be experienced.

Walls of the universe are the barriers and obstacles that show up when you finally decide to follow your bliss, follow your true calling, and if then you decide that there are other things that need your attention, things of less value to your heart’s content, something that isn’t your Bliss, but is something that is of less importance to the ultimate experience of life because someone once told you it was more important, or because “that is how society works” or because someone once told you that you cannot get what you want, or that you are less than what you are worth, or you are not good enough, or you were afraid of disappointing yourself, or did not have faith in yourself or the mechanics of the Universe, then the walls will remain as wall and you will curse the Universe, blame the people around you, make excuses of circumstances surrounding you all the while ignore that you stopped walking on the path that was your bliss and turned away only to go to a comfortable spot. The kind of comfort that is merely an illusion of a safe cave while the beauty of the world of possibilities awaits you.

Just like my trail that had ups and downs, twist and turns, had sun and shade, with dry dead trees that bared no fruit, and trees there were rejuvenating in welcome of a new seasons with flowers blooming with signs that can only mean that there is hope, so is life unfolding in this way.

When you decide to turn back from your bliss, you are closing doors, but when you follow your bliss the Universe opens doors for you where there were only walls.

Business Philosophy

Power to Shape the Future

Post author By Kapil Bulsara
Post date May 2, 2015
No Comments on Power to Shape the Future

Believe it or not you and I and everyone else has the power to shape the future. Not everyone is an inventor, a creator, the CEO of a leading tech firm, or the designer of the next big thing, but collectively we have the strength in numbers. We are consumers and with our purchasing power we can shape the future the way we want it to be. One person alone cannot shape the future, but collectively we can, by choosing what we buy, by voicing our opinions, by making sure our voices are heard.

Every time you purchase a product or service you are telling business what you want and what you do not want. Ultimately businesses will only create and maintain products and services that lead to a profit and to be fair that is the purpose of a business – to make profit. You might not have direct influence on how a business operates but you do have power to make businesses succumb to your will. Businesses need to make profit, profit comes from sales, sales come from consumers, you are a consumer, therefore businesses need you.

I’m not going to tell you what you should purchase and from whom, neither will I suggest how we should shape the future. That is not my job, at least that is not my job in this post. All I want to do is give you a chance to examine what you are purchasing, where the product or service is coming from, whether you agree or disagree with the product making process, whether or not the company’s operations, where the product is being made and by whom the product is being made and the product itself is in alignment with your own values and beliefs.

Every time you pay for a product or service, you are creating a demand for it. An increase in demand will inevitably lead to either an increase in price or an increase in supply. Ask yourself whether you would want the increase of this product in the market. Is the increase in supply good for the economy, the general public, your government and yourself.

There is certain class of consumers known as fanboys/fangirls who would purchase anything that a company makes just because they are loyal to that particular brand name without considering the possibility of other products or services at their disposal. I’m not telling or asking you to change this behaviour. All I am suggesting is to ask yourself this question:”Would it not be better to stay loyal to yourself, to your values, to your beliefs, to your vision of the future then to stay loyal to an identity that you have formed as the user of product X or the user of services Y”.

Does it really server anyone if you remain loyal to a brand and not the technology, the quality or the essence of that product or service? And if so who does it really serve?

Are there industries that you are part of simply by being a consumer creating demand by purchasing a product or services, but those industries do not conform with your own values? Are there products that you consume on a regular basis that cause more harm than good to you and others around you.

I urge you to examine the consequence of the act of purchasing.

Remember you have the power,…we have the power to shape our future. This idea is not a break through idea, it is a simple idea that we are all a part of on daily basis, but more often than not we tend to forget about it because we are living inside of it instead of looking into it.

Tags Business, consumer

Software Technology Web Web Development

The Microsoft Edge

Microsoft seems to be using a lot of Halo game elements in Windows desktop and mobile phones. For e.g. after the end of Internet Explorer the new Internet Browser was codenamed “Spartan”. Then there is Cortana which is the name for the intelligent personal assistant and knowledge navigator, much like Siri for IOS, but for Windows Phone 8.1 and now Windows 10. Cortana is also the name of an Artificial Intelligence character in Halo games.

It was finally revealed this week that the official name for Project Spartan is Microsoft Edge. It seems like the “edge” is getting prevalent with underdogs trying to get an edge over their competitors. Samsung’s new smartphone code named “Project Zero” has an ‘edge’ in it’s name and it also literally has an edge… or two in this case. Microsoft’s “Edge” on the other hand is the absence of edge in the browsing experience.

Microsoft desperately and amazing enough, confidently wants to rebrand its Internet Browser as can be seen from this Microsoft Edge Promotional Video.

The browser has always been a window into the world. We all looked out and saw amazing things. It’s time to open that window and blur the edge between consumption and creation between the universal and the personal, between standing still and moving forward. Introducing the browser that defines the edge of today and turns browsing into doing. ..

If someone told me last year or even a week ago that I would be getting excited about Microsofts’ Internet Browser, I would have kick them in appropriate places. But quite honestly, Edge and Windows 10 and everything that Microsoft is doing has really got me excited, something that I have not said in many years. The logo itself seems to be re-born from the ghost of the Internet Explorer past but with a cooler edgier look.

Microsoft Edge will be the default browser on Windows 10. It will be heavily integrated with Cortana. As you can see in the screenshot below, it shows you the top sites visited, featured apps from the Windows store, weather details, and sports updates and other news article links that are of importance to the user all on the default home page .

It picks all of this information up from Cortana which is heavily integrated with Windows 10 on the desktop and phone (Dedicated post on Windows 10 coming soon.) From the keynote, it seems that Cortana will truly act as AI Personal Assistant and give suggestions by learning your desktop and phone and browsing habits and help you search what you are looking for by taking voice commands.

Microsoft Edge will also allow developers to create extension for Edge much like Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. According to the keynote developers will be able to import extensions from Chrome and Firefox that use standard HTML and javascript “with just a few minor modifications”.

Now that is all the good promises that Microsoft is giving. What about the actual user and developer experience? One thing that I have learnt is that if something is too good to be true, it probably is. Don’t get me wrong, I’m actually quite positively excited about this new direction that Microsoft is taking, however from experience and this is not just my experience this is the experience of every web developer that has ever utterly painfully laid their fingers on coding specifically for Internet Explorer, Microsoft’s Internet Browser provides nothing but a reason to hate the very core of it’s browser – each and every iteration of Internet browser.

I can only hope that this time it is going to be different and I have a feeling that this time it will be different – different for the better.

Only time will tell whether this is good news for web developers or not and if developers are happy so will the end user be happy.

That is my take on Microsoft’s new Internet browser, Edge. Of course I have not had a first hand experience with Edge, but when I do, I will be posting my thoughts on it. I will soon be writing on the key elements of Windows 10 and a in-depth review of the Samsung galaxy S6 Edge.

Software Technology

Free Your Mind

Have you ever experienced writer’s block, or had a lot of information but didn’t know how to organize it, found it difficult to break down what you were going to say in your public speak, had difficulty organizing a shopping list or to do list?

I know I have had those moments too. To over comes those moments of frustration even before they begin, I free my mind with a program called Free Mind. FreeMind is a free mind-mapping software.

A mind map is a diagram used to visually organize information. A mind map is often created around a single concept, drawn as an image in the center of a blank landscape page, to which associated representations of ideas such as images, words and parts of words are added. Major ideas are connected directly to the central concept, and other ideas branch out from those.[source: Wikipedia ]

The great thing about Free Mind is that it is 100% free software and open source software, licensed under GNU GPL V2+ (GNU General Public License) Basically, that means that you are free to use FreeMind to whatever purpose you want without paying for that, and that any code derived from current FreeMind’s code must also be licensed under GPL V2+.[Source: http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page]

Here are a few screenshots so you can see what a Free Mind document generally looks like:

I have used other mind mapping programs but Free Mind is my favourite. There are other programs out there that save to the cloud, have flexible nodes and some are aesthetically very pleasing. The reason I choose Free Mind is because:

Multiplatform

The software is built in Java so it runs on just about anything. It works on Windows, Linux and Mac.

Universal

The file format is universal. Every mind mapping program out there will import a free mind (.mm) file, but not the other way around as most other programs have their own formats.

Rigid

The node branches are rigid meaning you cannot move them around in space the way you like. Note: you can move the actual nodes around to different branches but the branches don’t stretch or shrink. For some this constraint would be more of a con than a pro. I on the other hand like it because it keeps things organized and plus it forces me think in a modular fashion and for that to happen I need to understand the information that I am jotting. I have used other programs(free and paid) that give you the flexibility of moving the nodes around with a flexible stretch branch and although this freedom of movement may seem like a great thing at first, but when it comes to getting the actual work down I think it can be very counter productive.

Multiple Uses

Although this is true for most mind mapping programs, I still feel the need to mention it for those who may be new to the idea of mind mapping.

Keep track of projects including tasks, subtasks, priority level using icons and colours
knowledge base – you can have multiple mind maps interconnected with other mind maps and store information in nodes or link to actual files such as images, word documents, excel sheets etc..
essay writing and brain storming – you can quickly jot down ideas that you have in a brain storming session and then easily move the modes around and create topics and subtopics to bring structure to your fictional or non-fictional writing
A shopping list or a ToDo list – Once you start using mind maps instead of a flat list you will never want to go back to boring ToDo lists.
Database – you can organize information about clients, about collection of antique items which you can categorize, keep inventory of your valuables…etc..

Features

export to HTML, image formats(PNG, JPG, PDF etc…)
visually format the nodes and branches for better readability. There is even an auto-format feature which I use all the time and it works surprisingly well.
it’s an open format meaning there is no risk to committing to Free Mind in the beginning and then changing to a different program because it uses XML which can be imported into any other mind mapping program.
FREE!
use graphical links(lines with arrow pointers) to link nodes
link to other Free Mind maps and other files like Word, Excel, image files or any other file on your computer

Other Mind Mapping Programs

You may also want to try out these mind mapping programs to see which one fits your specific needs.

Mind Node – by far the most beautifully designed mind mapping program out there. The only thing that keeps me from using it is that it is only for Mac OSX and IOS.
Mindjet – for serious business use, is more than just mind mapping software—it’s a total suite of applications and tools designed to help you and the people you work with brainstorm, stay on top of projects, collaborate on tasks, and stay organized together.
XMind – like Mindjet this is again for serious business use. There is a free version with some of the advanced features lacking, but it gets the job done. XMind is also one of the more popular mind mapping programs.

That’s my take on freeing your mind with mind maps. Please share, like, tweet, retweet if you like this post. Also leave a comment below.

Tags free mind, mind mapping, mind node, mindjet, productivity, Project Management, todo list, xmind

Business Software Technology Web

Top 3 Alternatives to Microsoft Office

Post author By Kapil Bulsara
Post date April 28, 2015
No Comments on Top 3 Alternatives to Microsoft Office

Microsoft Office is the industry standard when it comes to office suites. Most people think that when it comes to office suites Microsoft Office is the only option they have. Either that or they think that any other alternative is not worth experimenting with. I’m here to tell you that that is not the case. I have 3 multi-platform alternatives that work on Windows, Mac OSX and Linux. If you are a student or a small business owner with a tight budget or have very little use for an office suite to pay $8 to $10 a month for or for whatever reason just don’t want to use Microsoft Office then the following 3 are definitely worth trying out.

Apache OpenOffice

Apache OpenOffice is one of the oldest open source alternative and one of the most well know. It has switched hands multiple times throughout its history developed by Star Office, which was later acquired by Sun Microsystems which was acquired by Oracle Corporation, the lack of commitment from Oracle and other issues led to a split in the development team and LibreOffice was born. Oracle then laid of its paid developers who were working on the OpenOffice project and donated the code and trademark to the Apache Software Foundation. For some time after that the office suite was weaker compared to its fork LibreOffice, however since mid-2014 Open Office is back in the competition. OpenOffice.org claims that OpenOffice is being used in Governments, Education, Businesses, Not for profits, IT Businesses.

Apache OpenOffice lets you save documents in the OpenDocument format, read Microsoft documents and save your work in Microsoft document formats too. It offers 6 programs in its suite:

Writer – the word processor alternative to Microsoft Word that you can use for anything from writing a quick letter to producing an entire book.
Calc – the spreadsheet alternative to Microsoft Excel with all the tools you need to calculate, analyze, and present your data in numerical reports or sizzling graphics.
Impress – the multimedia presentation alternative to Microsoft Powerpoint.
Draw – this Visio alternative lets you produce everything from simple diagrams to dynamic 3D illustrations.
Base – is the alternative to Microsoft Access that lets you manipulate databases seamlessly, create and modify tables, forms, queries, and reports.li
Math lets you create mathematical equations with a graphic user interface or by directly typing your formulas into the equation editor.

LibreOffice

LibreOffice is very similar to OpenOffice because it is a fork of OpenOffice and is developed by The Document Foundation. At the time of this writing LibreOffice was slightly ahead of OpenOffice mainly because it had a head start while OpenOffice was looking for a stable home to settle down for some serious development. I was a big fan of OpenOffice until LibreOffice came into existence. I still use LibreOffice and Google’s Office suits on a regular Basis.

To someone who is new to LibreOffice it can be a confusing process to download the right version of LibreOffice. LibreOffice Fresh is the most recent stable version with cutting edge development. If you want the latest features and are okay with using software that has not gone through the test of time then the Fresh version is for you. If you want something that is stable and has gone through a good amount of testing then LibreOffice Still is for you. I use the “Still” version and that is what I would recommend you to use.

LibreOffice boasts the same set of programs that OpenOffice does. It generally has newer and advanced features than OpenOffice and has a more active development team and support community. This may change in the future since OpenOffice has improved quite a lot and it is also supported by a strong organization, Apache which at one point powered 70% of web servers.

Google’s Office Suite

Google’s Office Suite was named Google docs before but now it does not seem to have a name that encapsulates all its apps. Docs is now the name of Google’s word processing app and all the other components are now standalone apps on the web and on the IOS and Android platform.

The biggest difference between Google’s Office apps and the the previous two is that LibreOffice and OpenOffice are both desktop applications where as Google’s is everything on the web. If you are someone who is on-the-go a lot or use multiple devices to do your work, or are heavily invested in the Google ecosystem then Google office apps is the way to you. They are not as full featured and robust as the desktop applications mentioned above, but they get the job done. Since we at Okinara Consulting Services all work remotely from different locations around the globe we depend on Google for our emails and to share and collaborate on documents. There are various apps that work together to form Google’s office suite.

Docs – is the Microsoft Word alternative app that lets you Open, edit, and create documents.
Slides – is the Microsoft PowerPoint alternative that lets you open, edit, and create presentations
Drawing – is the Microsoft Visio alternative that lets you create diagrams and flow charts
Sheets – is the Excel alternative that lets you open, edit, and create spreadsheets

That’s my take on alternatives to Microsoft Office. If you have any suggestions, please leave a comment below.

Tags apache, google, google docs, libreoffice, microsoft, microsoft office, opensource, software

Entertainment

A Simple Home Media Center Setup

Post author By Kapil Bulsara
Post date April 27, 2015
No Comments on A Simple Home Media Center Setup

Before I begin I would like to state a disclaimer. I’m not suggesting going out and buying all the things that I have mentioned below. This is more of a very basic guide of different components that you can use if you are thinking of centralizing your media and have some old hardware lying around or you plan to make some purchases in the near future.

Media Server

If you have an old PC that you are not using because it is too slow or just doesn’t function the way it used to, you can reformat the hard drive and install Xubuntu.

Xubuntu is an officially recognized flavour of the popular Ubuntu operating system. Since it is a Linux based operating system it is very secure. It is very easy to use compared to some of the other Linux distributions and can run very smoothly even on old hardware. I’m using a 9 year old PC that has seen better days.

So we have the Operating System that our server is going to use, as for the actual media server software we are going to be using Plex. Plex is awesome because it is very simple to install, has a very clean user interface, keeps track of where you stopped watching a movie on multiple devices, it provides movie trailers and extras, and a whole lot more. You will need to get the premium service if you want to watch your movies on Xbox or Playstation. At little under $5 a month, it is a worthwhile investment.

Xbox

If you missed it, here are some reasons to pick Xbox as your gaming console. You can control your Xbox with the Xbox One SmartGlass app (Android, IOS, Windows, Windows Phone). You can also download apps on your Xbox which will make it easier to consume media: Youtube, Netflix, TED etc… Then you can pair the Youtube app on your phone/laptop/tablet with your Xbox One, you can cast all the above apps and others from your phone/table to your Xbox. Leave a comment below if you need a detailed step by step guide and I’ll write up another post for you.

Set-top Box[optional]

If you want you can add a set-top box like Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV to the mix, but that really just makes it redundant.I chose not to add any of these because Xbox One meets all my requirements.

If you really need to have cable TV you can add that to the mix too. Bell Fibe TV is pretty amazing. It has a very clean and fluid user interface and I have grown accustomed to the “Restart” feature which lets you restart a program if you tune in late. The only thing that bugs me is that you cannot fast forward a program that you have “restarted”. Bell Fibe TV has a very useful mobile app which you can use to control the box.

Sound Bar

Sound bars are great because they are mostly compact and a lot of them can act as a style statement. Of course they won’t sound as great as a full fledged home theatre system with a receiver and surround sound speakers but with recent improvements in technology sound bars have come a long way. I personally wanted something that was compact, had a decent sound output, fitted well under my TV, blended well with all my other devices and took in multiple HDMI inputs. The Sony HT-CT370 2.1 Channel 300W Sound Bar with Wireless Subwoofer, Bluetooth, and NFC is just the sound bar that I was looking for. I plug my Bell FIbe TV set-top box, Xbox One and sometimes my laptop to it. It has 3 HDMI inputs, something which is not too common in sound bars. I don’t have to go to the back of the cabinet to fiddle with wires. And everything gets neatly tucked behind the sound bar. Another thing that I later came to appreciate about the sound bar is its NFC capability. A lot of the times I simply place my Android phone on top of the sound bar and connection is established automatically.

Apps

These are some of the must have apps to make your home entertainment experience even better:

Xbox Smart Glass remote
Fibe Remote for Bell Fibe TV subscribers
Rogers Anyplace TV – for Rogers subscribers
Samsung Link – for Samsung devices
SongPal from Sony
SoundCloud
Crackle
Youtube
Netflix

Songza

Songza deserves a spot of its own because this app is simply amazing. You can listen to this on your phone, on the web, cast it on your chrome device or simply stream it to your bluetooth speakers which is something that I usually do. Songza is a free music streaming and recommendation service for Internet users in the United States and Canada. Stating that its playlists are made by music experts, the service recommends various playlists based on time of day and mood or activity.(Source: Wikipedia) It’s best feature is concierge mode. Just chilling with friends at home on a Friday night, relaxing at home on a Saturday afternoon, need to recover from last night – no problem just make those selections on the concierge mode and let Songza provide a playlist and do its thing.

Extras

Wireless Keyboard

If you decide to hookup your PC or if you have an Xbox without Kinect a wireless keyboard certainly comes in handy. The Logitech K400 Wireless Touch Keyboard with TouchPad is the best wireless keyboard under $50.

TV Cabinet

It’s important to choose a cabinet which hides all the wires and is functions. Ikea usually has pretty sleek looking, compact and functional cabinets.

Take for example the cabinet above. It contains the following devices:

Xbox One with two controllers
Bell Fibe TV set-top box
Nintendo Wii
A wireless keyboard
TV
Sound bar
Subwoofer
DVD player
Bluray player

It is a simple design, there are a lot of wires behind the cabinet but they’re all very neatly tucked away. Of course you don’t have to go out there and buy a new cabinet, but if you’re in the market for a new one, these are some of the things that you might want to think about. There are also many ways you can organize your wires to keep look neat.

That’s my take on a simple home media center setup. If you have suggestions please leave a comment below.

Tags Android, IOS, IPhone, media server, netflix, Plex, TED, Ubuntu, windows, xbox one, xubuntu, youtube